blue and brownish crystalzes

this is the latest - I think I'm improving at this technique every time I do it -

1970s illustration

I went to the library and read a book about illustration in the 1970a. I stole these images. A lot of them are by Philippe Corentin or Alain le Saux - I can't really find much information about them on the internet, but I really like these pictures.

I'd like to develop that skill of thinking up smart, metaphorical imagery that brutally communicates an idea, in such a poetic way.

I was asked to design a layout and cool banner for Mountain Madness Mondays, a blog about an apres-ski (snowboarding?) night. This is what i came up with - it might be tweaked a bit yet. I managed to fight down my tendency to have every single colour in the artwork, and keep it down to a few ones that look good together.

http://www.mountainmadnessmondays.blogspot.com/

fireball

Another one in my "series" of little watercolours of rocks. This one is different in that it has black lines, and I tried to keep the colours more subdued and earthy (to a point, obviously).

Watercolours look so fantastic when the paint's wet, but are often pretty dull in comparison once they dry. It really depends on the particular brand and colour you're using, I think. Maybe one day in the future I'll try to use oil or acrylics again, for that shiny, wet look.

Pigments are an interesting thing... they can have such amazing qualities. I guess a computer screen isn't really the same way - we can get pretty much any hue on command with a computer, but there's always going to be something compelling about a limited choice, about the idea that some colours are more expensive than others. The history of pigments is fascinating (especially when some strange material had to be got from mummies or some weird, particular source. So romantic!).